Author: Ruth Glaeser Recent news highlights a growing focus on government antitrust enforcement cases against companies accused of monopolizing markets and abusing their power. But let’s consider another question: if a company lacks sufficient market power to qualify as a monopolist, but competes with only one or a handful of…
The Antitrust Attorney Blog
Unpacking the Implications of the FTC’s Antitrust Case Against Amazon for Online Marketplace Competition
Author: Sabri Siraj The Federal Trade Commission has survived a motion to dismiss in a high-stakes lawsuit against Amazon, igniting critical discussions about competition in the online marketplace. As a dominant player in global e-commerce, Amazon’s practices have long affected both consumers and competitors. Will this case change those practices…
Dividing Markets and Customers: Are Market Allocation Agreements Per Se Antitrust Violations?
Author: Jarod Bona Have you ever considered the idea that your business would be much more profitable if you didn’t have to compete so hard with that pesky competitor or group of competitors? Unless you lack competition—which is great for profits, read Peter Thiel’s book—this notion has probably crossed your…
Mergers & Acquisitions, AI and Antitrust: The New Creative Ways for Big Tech to Enter the AI Market and Avoid HSR Rules
Author: Luis Blanquez Two of the main pillars from the Biden Administration Antitrust Policy in 2023 have been an aggressive merger enforcement agenda and its crusade against Big Tech and vertical integration. On the merger side, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have published new Merger…
New Antitrust Cases and Statements of Interests About Algorithmic Collusion
Author: Luis Blanquez We recently wrote about the Federal Trade Commission’s blog post explaining how relying on a common algorithm to determine your pricing decisions might violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The FTC has Algorithmic Price-Fixing in its Antitrust Crosshairs It was just a matter of time until…
Is it Possible to Win a Robinson Patman Act Case Now?
Author: Steven Cernak Some of us have been asserting for years that Robinson Patman, the federal price-discrimination antitrust law, is merely “forgotten but not gone.” That is, while there has been no FTC enforcement in decades, a few private lawsuits are filed every year and careful potential defendants still follow…
The FTC has Algorithmic Price-Fixing in its Antitrust Crosshairs
Author: Luis Blanquez Are you delegating your pricing decisions to a common algorithm software platform? If so, you might violate the antitrust laws. It may not even matter whether you actually communicated with your competitors. All it might take is for the antitrust agencies—The Department of Justice or the Federal…
What Are the Elements for a Monopolization Claim under the Federal Antitrust Laws?
Author: Jarod Bona Do you or your competitor have a monopoly in a particular market? If so, your conduct or their conduct might enter Sherman Act, Section 2 territory, which we call monopolization. If you are in Europe or other jurisdictions outside of the United States, instead of monopoly, people…
The Apple Store is in the Crosshairs of US and EU Antitrust and Competition Enforcers
Author: Luis Blanquez Apple is currently feeling the heat from antitrust authorities all over the world. Probably more than ever. Below is an article we recently published in the Daily Journal discussing in some detail the last developments in the Epic Games saga, both in the EU and the US.…
If I Were You…I’d Listen to this Podcast about Residential Real Estate & Antitrust
Author: Molly Donovan & Aaron Gott This Episode Is About: Residential Real Estate and Antitrust Why: A settlement has been reached between the National Association of Realtors (or NAR) and the class action plaintiffs that would resolve the $1.8 billion verdict out of Missouri finding illegal collusion in the residential…